Hùng Kings’ Temple Festival

The founders of the nation

The Hùng Kings are the traditional founders and first kings of Vietnam. Their festival is officially called Giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương, the death anniversary of the Hùng Kings, although it does not mark the death of any particular king. It began as a local holiday and became a national one in 2007; in 2016 about seven million people visited.

The festival takes place at the Hùng temples on Nghĩa Lĩnh mountain in Phú Thọ province. People come to commemorate their ancestors and to pray for good weather, abundant harvests, luck and health. The worship of the Hùng Kings in Phú Thọ was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List in 2012.

Palanquins, drums and cakes

A procession starts at the foot of the mountain and stops at each of the smaller temples before reaching the High Temple, where pilgrims offer prayers and incense. Villages from the surrounding area dress in splendid costumes and compete to provide the finest palanquin and the most valued objects of worship for the key rite, in which drums and gongs are carried up to the main temple.

Communities offer rice delicacies such as square cakes and glutinous rice cakes, and there are folk performances, bronze drum beating, Xoan singing, prayers and petitions. The rituals are led by a festival organising board of respected local people, who appoint committees and temple guardians to look after the sites and teach worshippers the rites. Smaller ceremonies for the Hùng Kings are held at temples throughout the country during the year.